Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Council comes clean on parking ticket rules

Praise again to Sheffield City Council for 'doing the right thing.'If parking enforcement is ever going to gain any public respect then the 'Sheffield Model' needs to become the industry standard. Full transparency and, when mistakes are made, public contrition. An apology and an admission of a mistake goes a long way. Cover-ups, obfuscation and evasion especially from public servants sticks in the throat.

What we will be revealing in the coming weeks will be pretty startling BUT there will be a new dawn on the 28th January 2010 when 'the future' will be revealed. However, it is set to become a very public and painful time for those (paid for with yours and my hard earned taxes) who have believed that they were above the law.

Lawyers have confirmed that they are available and prepared to act for whistleblowers. Whistleblowers have confirmed that they have evidence of 'malpractice, misconduct and fraud.'

What is set to break in the coming months will make MPs expenses and the banking scandal look pretty benign when it is revealed how the motorists of this country have been fleeced by the biggest highway robbery in history.

RULES on when motorists can be granted exemptions from parking tickets and bus gate fines are being published by Sheffield Council for the first time.It follows concern about people making appeals against fines citing sometimes bizarre reasons.

Kevan Butt, Sheffield Council's parking services manager, said: "Sometimes there are compelling circumstances when we recognise exemptions apply."We have always tried to be transparent, consistent and fair. We are now making our enforcement policy a public document so people can see for themselves what the rules are."

Mr Butt said some slight relaxations of current policy are proposed, set to be approved by Sheffield Council's cabinet next Wednesday.

These include giving delivery vehicles – exempt from restrictions while parked up to drop off their cargo – up to 10 minutes grace instead of the current five when nobody is seen coming and going from the vehicle.

If they are left unattended for longer, they will be ticketed but in some circumstances delivery vehicles can be left for up to half an hour as long as the business agrees this with the council in advance.

Unusual appeals against parking tickets cited excuses such as parking in a permit bay "to catch a cheating boyfriend" and a pensioner who said they were late returning to their car because they had been "modelling nude in a life art class".

One person even told of an "embarrassing personal incident" which left them suddenly needing to buy new underwear.